Many environments exist wherein safety or other considerations are improved by the availability of a surface which provides a marking visible in darkness, together with improved friction. A typical application is for markings, signage or the like for steps, floors, hand rails and ladders which combine photo-luminescent materials to help guide building occupants to safety during blackout situations, together with an anti-slip coating for safety.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,608 describes a stair nosing comprising an extrusion having strips of photo-luminescent paint alternating with raised strips of slip-resistant material. This device is relatively costly to manufacture, owing to the difficulties of assembling, or otherwise forming the strips of slip-resistant material into the dovetail grooves in the extrusion.
The applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,952 describes a method and apparatus for manufacturing a photo-luminescent device such as a nosing for stairs in the form of a section having channels into which a thermosetting resin and pigment are applied to form photo-luminescent strips. The photo-luminescent pigment is applied to the stair nosing by mixing powdered photo-luminescent pigment with a carrier also in powdered form, dispensing the powdered mixture into a recess in the stair nosing, then heating the powdered mixture to fuse the resins and bond them to surfaces of the recess. The edges of the channels protrude to contrast to the radiance of the luminescent material in the channels for enhanced visibility. Although the manufacturing method described in this patent allows photo-luminescent strip devices to be produced in a cost-effective manner, it will be appreciated that there is an ongoing need for an improved method of manufacturing these devices. While the channel edges form non-slip strips and present a foot-engaging surface which protrudes above the luminescent strips, it would be advantageous if such a method provided a device with a greater degree of slip resistance than that of the device of U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,952 without a significantly increased number of manufacturing operations.
All references, including any patents or patent applications, cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the reference states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents forms parts of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
It is acknowledged that the term ‘comprise’ may, under varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, the term ‘comprise’ shall have an inclusive meaning—i.e. that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not only the listed components it directly references, but also other non-specified components or elements. This rationale will also be used when the term ‘comprised’ or ‘comprising’ is used in relation to one or more steps in a method or process.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.